Brainlab announced that it received CE Mark approval in Europe for its ExacTrac Dynamic next-generation patient positioning and monitoring system. ExacTrac Dynamic offers high-speed thermal surface tracking technology combined with updated ExacTrac X-ray monitoring designed to treat a wide variety of indications in what Brainlab touts as an “all-in-one” radiotherapy tracking system. Munich-based Brainlab’s system […]
Radiosurgery/Radiation therapy
RefleXion Medical raises $100m for biology-guided cancer radiotherapy
Therapeutic oncology company RefleXion Medical announced today that it closed an equity financing with proceeds of $100 million. Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), a large, Canada-based pension investment manager focused on long-term investments, led the funding, according to a news release. Existing investors TPG’s The Rise Fund, KCK Group, Sofinnova Partners, Venrock, T. […]
Could AI help monitor coronavirus disease progression?
Artificial intelligence radiology tech developer Qure.ai announced that it is working with the San Raffaele University Hospital in Milan to monitor disease progression in COVID-19 patients. The Mumbai-based company’s QXR automated chest X-ray system is designed to interpret a coronavirus patient’s lung scans within seconds, quantifying how much of their lungs have been affected by […]
How is the coronavirus affecting medtech events?
The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has swept the globe and made a huge impact in the medtech space — especially when it comes to the events that provide a crucial networking and innovation-sharing function. The March 5 cancellation of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2020 Global Health Conference & Exhibition was one of […]
RaySearch Labs issues urgent field safety notice for certain RayStations
RaySearch Laboratories issued an urgent field safety notice in Europe to warn on an issue with the dose calculation for the Siemens (NYSE:SI) virtual wedge in several of RaySearch’s RayStation treatment planning systems. The affected RayStation models listed in the safety notice out of Germany included RayStation 4.0, RayStation 4.5, RayStation 4.7, RayStation 4.9 (RayPlan 1), […]
FDA clears Varian’s AI-driven radiation therapy
Varian Medical Systems (NYSE:VAR) announced today that it won FDA 510(k) clearance for its Ethos AI-driven adaptive intelligence solution for cancer care. Ethos is designed to offer an adaptive treatment based on the patient’s anatomy and position to better target the tumor, reduce the dose to healthy tissue and improve overall outcomes within a 15-minute time […]
Varian Medical shares down on Q1 bottom-line slide
Varian Medical (NYSE:VAR) shares dropped today on first-quarter results that came up short of the consensus forecast. The Palo Alto, Calif.–based radiotherapy device maker posted profits of $88.9 million, or 96¢ per share, on sales of $829.9 million for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2019, for a 14.4% bottom-line slide on sales growth of 11.9%. […]
FDA reclassifies some medical image analyzers
The FDA today imposed stricter regulations on certain radiological medical image analyzers, reclassifying them from Class III to Class II. Affected products include computer-assisted detection (CADe) devices for breast cancer mammography, breast-lesion ultrasound, and lung-nodule and dental-caries radiography, the agency said. It defines these devices as those intended to identify, mark, highlight, or in any […]
Philips issues urgent field safety notice for CombiDiagnost R90
Updated with a clarification from Philips. Royal Philips (NYSE:PHG) issued an urgent field safety notice to warn users of an issue with its CombiDiagnost R90 GCF fluoroscopy system. The imaging device used in radiography has shown an error issue when the table-tilting features are used. When using the “Table Up/Down” button on the device, Error 80, […]
Proton therapy lowers risk of side effects for cancer patients, study says
Findings from a new study claim that proton therapy leads to a significantly lower risk of side effects severe enough to lead to unplanned hospitalizations for cancer patients when compared to traditional radiation. Although cure rates between the proton therapy and radiation groups remain almost identical, the study conducted at the Perelman School of Medicine […]
Could an algorithm improve breast cancer treatment?
A study from researchers at Penn Medicine revealed that MRI and an algorithm-based field of medicine called radiomics could help characterize the heterogeneity of cancer cells in a tumor and allow for better understanding of the causes and progression of individual diseases. The study, published in Clinical Cancer Research, examines radiomics, which uses algorithms to extract […]
